The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

This year’s Fortune 500 list is out, and while Walmart’s $421 billion in revenue may have beaten out Exxon Mobil’s paltry $354 billion, the oil giant beat out Big W where it matters most, profits. According to Fortune, the crude colossus made a whopping $30.4 billion in profits last year, nearly double what Walmart made and over $10.5 billion more than the next most profitable company on the list.

That runner-up honor goes to AT&T, who managed to rake in $19.864 billion in profit with only — only! — $124 billion in revenue. The third most profitable company on the list, Chevron, was also the number three company in revenue, with $19 billion in profit from $196 billion in revenue.

Microsoft’s $62.4 billion in revenue was only good enough for 38th place on the Fortune 500, but its $18.76 billion in profit was the fourth-highest number. That was also sufficient to beat out the biggest bank on the list, Chase, at number five with $17.3 billion in profit.

And then we get to Walmart, in the sixth position with $16.3 billion, followed by IBM ($14.8 billion), Apple ($14 billion), Johnson & Johnson ($13.3 billion) and Berkshire Hathaway ($12.96 billion).

Some other numbers of note: Fannie Mae was listed at #5 on the Fortune 500 with $153 billion in revenue, but it also lost $14 billion last year. Bank of America, at #9 with $134 billion in revenue, was the only other top 10 company to turn a negative profit, losing $2.2 billion in 2010.